A Day in the Life of an Oxford Scholastica Student: The First Monday

Hello, I’m Abaigeal or Abby for short, and I attended Oxford Scholastica’s residential summer school as a Discover Business student. 

During the Business course, I studied various topics across the large spectrum that is the world of business, including supply and demand, incentives, the styles of workplaces, and the differences between being a manager and a leader. 

When people think of business, many probably think of men in suits stalking around conference rooms like in Men in Black, but honestly, I think it’s so much more. Business as a whole is determining somebody’s career and role in society, and is a very complex and integrated system. 

So without further ado, here’s what my very first Monday at the Oxford Scholastica Academy looked like!

A Studious Monday Morning

Attending the Business school meant 9am classes, so I woke up at around 7am each morning. 

My typical morning routine was like any other: waking up, brushing my teeth, and getting ready for the day. At around 8am, I met my friends at one of the common rooms, and seeing as our Medicine classmates hadn’t exactly woken up yet, the Business and Technology students ate together in quiet silence – as it always is without the Medicine students! – staring out of the common room’s large windows onto Oxford’s dewy mornings. 

My friends and I left our accommodation at Lampl at around 8:30am, signing out before our departure. On the very first day, our Activity Coordinators walked us to the BSG (Blavatnik School of Government), pointing out notable sights along the way. We then skipped off to school, parting at the top of the stairs for our respective classes.

Lectures

Our lectures were two hours long, with a short five minute break in the middle. Our lectures were fun-filled, often containing Kahoots! and interesting presentations made and shared by our fellow peers. Our tutor, Ms. Kaur, always had engaging and interesting slideshows, and was helpful at every turn, answering our questions and showing us how to upload our work to the portal.

Independent study

The next chunk of our day was independent study, where all the students who’d attended the 9am-11am classes walked through Oxford back to Lampl, accompanied by our ACs. 

With our new assignments fresh from our tutors, we all quickly scrambled to our common rooms or dormitories to begin working. With some lofi beats and encouraging words from the ACs who stopped by, we were all able to complete our assignments and head off for lunch. As soon as the clock struck 1pm, everyone’s phones were ringing and Medicine students were rushing back to Lampl, careful not to waste even a minute of their coveted lunch break.

Afternoon Adventures Around Oxford

From Lampl, we set off down the street towards Oxford’s city centre. That Monday, we popped into Westgate Shopping Centre, looking for the first restaurant to catch our eye. Having worked up an appetite from our classes, we scarfed down food from Itsu, a relatively cheap restaurant with good food.

A tour of the city

Everyone finished eating at about 1:30pm, and then it was off to explore Oxford. We stopped at Yi Fang Bubble Tea, and sat near the stage, watching various performers. After running around the city, we begrudgingly – but not reluctantly – headed back to Lampl to meet all the ACs as it was time for a guided tour around the city! 

We walked around all the mesmerising sights, with our wonderful ACs never falling short on relaying the long and complex history of Oxford. Even in the waning hours of the day’s sunlight, the buildings were as stunning as ever. In particular, the Radcliffe Camera was breathtaking, and undoubtedly iconic. As our tour concluded, we left for Wagamama’s, a Japanese and Asian inspired restaurant, which was the perfect ending to a long first day.

A Relaxing Evening

The first day was intimidating at first, especially with it being a new experience for almost all of us. However, I feel that the ACs relieved a lot of that pressure, allowing us to bond, not just as a house, but as individual friend groups. In fact, I still value my friends from Oxford, and connect with them often. 

We later walked back to Lampl, going through the sights once more as we retired for the night. For most of us, the night ended with hot tea in the common rooms, going through all the tourist-y pictures we’d taken that day – they were all, of course, compiled into Instagram posts later on! 

The night officially ended with us all returning to our dormitories, sleeping the night away.